“I understand,” Neil said. As excited as he was now that he knew she was there, he couldn’t help but be mildly disappointed. At the very least, he’d planned on going to her door and putting his ear against it. He’d decided that if he heard the TV, he was going to knock. “Can you tell me if she’s scheduled to check out in the next day or so?” Neil asked.

Arvind went back to the keyboard, then checked the monitor. “There’s no scheduled departure date.”

“Good,” Neil said.

After a few more minutes of formalities, Arvind stood up and his chair rolled back. “May I show you to your room?”

Neil stood up as well.

“Do you have a luggage tag?”

“Nope, this is it,” Neil said, hoisting his carry-on. “I travel light.” As he followed the clerk past the main entry doors toward the elevators, he wondered how he was going to surprise Jennifer in the morning. Since he didn’t know her plans, it was hard to decide, and ultimately he thought he’d just play it by ear.

“Excuse me, Mr. Sinha,” Neil said as they rose up in the elevator. “Could you see to it that I get a wake-up call at eight-fifteen?”

“Absolutely, sir!”

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

OCTOBER 18, 2007
THURSDAY, 7:30 A.M.
NEW DELHI, INDIA

Jennifer was embroiled in a recurrent nightmare involving her father that she often got when she was stressed. She’d never told anyone about the dream for fear of what people might think of her. She wasn’t quite sure what she thought of it herself. In the dream her father was stalking her with a cruel expression on his face while she yelled to him to stop. Ending up in the kitchen, she grabbed a butcher knife and brandished it. But still he came at her, taunting her that she would never use it. But she did. She stabbed him over and over, but all he did was laugh.

Normally she woke at this point, finding herself drenched in sweat, and so it was on this day, too. Disoriented, it took her a few moments to realize she was in India and that the phone was ringing. Jennifer snatched up the receiver in a minor panic while irrationally thinking that whoever was calling had been a witness to her murderous activities.

The called turned out to be Rita Lucas, and she sensed the anxiety in Jennifer’s voice. “I hope I’m not calling at a bad time.”

“No, it’s okay,” Jennifer said, becoming more oriented to reality. “I was just dreaming.”

“I’m so sorry to be calling so early, but I wanted to be certain not to miss you. I’ve actually waited. I never went to sleep. I was at the hospital for most of the night.”